Memory
by Xthenjazziesaid
Summary: Mainly set 8 years after Dragon Ball Z ended, ignoring GT. In which Chi-Chi goes missing, only to show up 4 years later at the Tenkaichi Budokai younger and with no memory of anything to do with Son Goku. Shall this mystery be solved or left up to memory? (I know, lame joke is lame.) Rating may go up later on. Please R&R.


**Here I am once again. Seems I can't just stick to one thing for very long. But I've come to the conclusion that if I don't write these ideas down, they'll never go away and most likely end up somewhere they don't belong (i.e.: another story it has nothing to do with).**

**Anyway, please enjoy this new idea of mine! And be sure to review afterwards!**

* * *

Gone.

She was gone. Vanished. No trace of her whatsoever. Her clothes, her vanity table in their bedroom that had the little lotions and perfumes she liked to wear that made her smell fruity enough he was tempted to bite her, yet her own unique scent added a somehow soft and calming layer to it. As a matter of fact, even her scent was gone.

He didn't actually know how long she'd been gone, because he himself had been absent from the household for over 4 years with no contact. He couldn't help it though. Uub had needed a bit more attention when training, so he'd needed to spend nearly every waking moment with the young boy to ensure his success in the portection of the earth. He certainly hadn't expected the lull in schedule to be an entire year after he'd originally planned to come visit, yet it did, and by the time he finally made it back home, everything of her was gone. She may as well have never existed.

Walking through the halls of his home, he realized that not once since they'd been married had it ever been so quiet. Even before they had Gohan, there had always been some sort of noise going through the house, since Chi-Chi was unnerved by silence. She was always either playing music or, (after he'd accidentally broken her radio) humming to herself as she went about her daily chores. He felt like he could understand why she disliked silence now. It held a feeling of something missing.

He stopped at Goten's old room. Gohan had told him that his youngest son had moved out to go to college 2 years after he'd left to train Uub, so the room had a stale, unused scent along with the smell of dust inside. His son's scent was gone as well, but it was to be expected. Goten had always disliked living in the mountains, it made sense he'd come back as little as possible. But he'd expected his wife, with her intense dislike for dust and dirt alike to have been cleaning it regularly, even if she had expected it to never be used again. However, if he concentrated hard enough, he just barely smell traces of Goten's scent. Had Chi-Chi been in the room at all after the boy had left, her scent would be more prominent than his.

Which meant that she'd been away from the room, and possibly even the house, for over 2 years.

Not quite panicking, but definitely more than just confused, he left the house and took to the sky, hovering a few meters off the ground as he searched for his wife's ki. It felt like he'd been there for hours when he heard his now 6 years old granddaughter calling to him about lunch. He lowered himself to the grass beside her smiling as she automatically attached herself to his leg and walked inside, his thoughts now on the promised food he could smell coming from kitchen and his suddenly rumbling gut. He could ask his son what happened to his wife; _after _he filled his stomach.

* * *

The trees were nearly still, just barely rustling with the light breeze blowing through the small clearing. The animals were quiet as well, even the cicadas had stopped their incessant calling, as though they realized how somber this evening was. In the center of the open space, there was a lone figure, crouched over the ground. The figure seemed to hesitate before bringing forth a bag from the cloak wrapped around its body and tipping it over to spill the contents out onto the grass. As seven small, orange balls rolled into view, they began blinking repeatedly in quick succession. The figure stood when they were on the ground, tossing the cloth bag used to hold them away into the woods. It hesitated once more before speaking in a clear, feminine voice.

"Great dragon, I summon thee! Arise Shenron!"

For a few moments, there was silence. Had it been day time, this time would have been occupied by the sky going dark in reaction to the immense power of the creature being summoned forth. As the cloaked woman watched and waited, the orange balls on the ground finally settled on glowing just as a beam of light shot out and headed toward the sky, curving and swirling as it went until it at last halted high above the earth and faded, revealing the visage of large, green dragon, its snarling face staring down at her.

"**I shall grant you any 2 wishes you desire. Speak now your first wish,**" it grumbled, the very air shaking in reaction.

The woman smiled sadly and replied, "I have but one wish, for I doubt even you can give me what I truly want."

"**Speak your wish, and I shall grant it.**" The dragon reiterated, not bothered in the slightest by her comment.

She nodded, and obeyed: "I wish for my youth. I wish to be the age that I entered the Budokai."

"**'Tis a simple matter.**" As it said this, the woman could feel her skin tighten softly, her body became slightly slimmer and the weariness she'd felt before disappeared. "**Now, speak your second wish and I shall grant it.**"

Her sad smile reappeared, and this time, she reached up to push the hood of her cloak off of her head, revealing her long, black hair and dark eyes. "I suppose if I'm going to do this, I should do it right. I just hope it isn't a mistake..."

Her back straightened, her hands clenched at her sides, and her gaze hardened as she shouted up at the dragon, "Please; make me forget that I ever met Son Goku!" Despite her strong voice, she was aware of a trail of wetness running down the sides of her face.

The dragon paid no heed to her sudden bout of fierceness and emotion, "**Your wish has been granted. Farewell.**"

With that, it shot into the heavens with a mighty roar, the balls on the ground following suit before shooting off in different directions, scattering across the earth to await another year's passing. Just as they separated, the woman on the ground blinked, looking around herself in confusion.

"What on earth am I doing here...?" she wondered out loud. She felt something warm run down her cheek, and reaching up to investigate, realized it was wet as well. _Why was she crying?_

Thoroughly confused, she glanced around again before frowning. "I should get back. I'll go home tomorrow."

She headed off the direction of the village she remembered leaving her things at, set on a good night's sleep and a fresh start in the morning. As she left the clearing, the wind picked up, the animals started their calls, and life moved on as the rejuvenated Ox Princess left her sadness behind.

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**So yeah, this wouldn't go away, and I found that after I wrote it down, I really liked it. So here it is, present for inspection. I'm not sure how far I want to go with this, if at all, so please give me thoughts and opinions. And if you think I've made any mistakes please tell me!**

**As always, review! Thanks for reading!**

**~Kanookie**


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